


Return of the Dark One

by MelonMass



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fanseason, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other, Serpentine society and Human society join together, Tag as I go cuz I'm not sure how to tag right now, kinda an au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2020-08-23 08:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20239546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelonMass/pseuds/MelonMass
Summary: Things were going great! The Serpentine and Humans were living peacefully side by side. Lloyd is even hanging out with his childhood best friend again! But there just had to be people against this peace. A cult growing in numbers, all with the goal of eliminating all 'others' for Ninjago. To top it all off, a dark, powerful force arrives. Or rather, returns? Why do they always learn about these old bad guys AFTER they come back to cause trouble?





	1. A Meeting

There are memories hidden in shadow. People and places, lost and nearly forgotten by all those within the realm. Except, not completely. A handful of memories were kept, held by one person. One soul remembering another. Here is where the story must begin.

It starts with a child who only wanted to be like his father. Ridiculed by his classmates and teachers, he constantly sneaked out of his boarding school. The people outside were hardly any better. They would mock and punish the child, for the son of the great Lord Garmadon made himself a great annoyance in their lives. The Ninja tended to leave him in high places, where he rarely could get down himself without injury. Would anyone ever help him down? No. Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon was on his own.

Lloyd was trying to climb down a cliff at the moment. It was cold a dark save for the moon and stars. No one should ever make a climb like that, much less a child like him. Not as though he was thinking about that now. All Lloyd was thinking about was how to get back at those pesky ninja. He'd get back at them! Something with water balloons, HONEY FILLED BALLOONS! Yes! Their EVERYTHING would get all sticky and it'd take _weeks_ for them to wash it out!

The boy was so lost in his plans, his foot slipped. He lost his hold and began to fall. Lloyd shouted. Then, suddenly, he was caught by his wrist. "Gotchya!" He looked to see he was caught by a kid, seemingly a bit older than him. Where did she even come from? "Why you gotta rock climb in the dark?"

"Who are you?" He asks.

"Oh! My name's Noa!" She helped him get a hold back on the rocks. "What's your name?"

"I am LLOYD GARMADON!! MWEHAHAHAHAH!"

"Cool!" Just... cool? Huh. That was a new reaction. "That's a nice theatrical laugh there."

Thee... attic? What? "Thank... you?" He almost slipped again, but Noah caught him again. They climbed down the whole way together. After, Noa invited him to her home, with the promise of sweets and fluffy blankets. That night, Lloyd made a friend. A best friend, even with an age difference of about three years. She wasn't a minion or future villain or anything, but a friend. It was kinda nice to have that. He enjoyed their moments, hanging out and the like, until...

"I have to go live with my aunt." Noa balled up her too big shirt, stared at her shoes. "She... it's far, but..."

Lloyd didn't know what to say. "You're leaving, too?" Everyone he cared for left, it seemed. Except, Noa was so so teary eyed.

"I... I don't to be forever gone..." The took a sharp breath, than looked right into his eyes with that determination she was so well know for. "We gotta make a pact!"

"A pact?"

"Yeah!" She grabbed Lloyd's hands and squeezed them tight. "We're gonna meet again, and then we'll still be best friends."

"That... that can't work!"

"Yes it will!"

"No!" Lloyd yanked his hands away. "No! Promises like that mean NOTHING! People promise that, and then NEVER COME BACK!" He turned and ran off. Stupid STUPID! The chances they'd ever meet again were next to nothing! They went the only friend he had left. He had NOBODY. He had... nobody.

No. No, that turned out to be wrong. When he went about releasing the Serpentine, causing all sorts of havoc, and even with how mean or straight cruel the ninja were, his Uncle Wu still took him in. He wasn't dragged to Darkly's, or jail or something. Instead, he got a nice place to sleep and a bedtime story. He even got to prank the ninja thanks to his uncle! And while the ninja were all still a bit cold to him, it didn't last long. They quickly adapted to him being there, like he had always been a part of this weird family unit.

He regretted what he said to Noah back then. Especially after the Tomorrow's Tea incident, which seemed to have left him somewhat more mature. He shouldn't have gotten so mad back then. She was all alone, no parents. Moving in with her aunt was better than living alone and stealing food from the local village. Maybe they could still see each other again, even if now he was more of the older one. Or maybe he was still younger? Or maybe those crossed each other out and they were pretty much the same age? Whichever it was, both of them had surely grown in their time apart. Lloyd figured meeting again would be a bit awkward.

And it was. They just ran into each other in the Ninjago City Park. He recognized that purple hair anywhere. "Noa?"

For a moment, it didn't look like she recognized him. But it was only a moment. Her face turned from confused to happy very quickly. "Lloyd! Oh wow, you went through quite the growth spurt!"

"Yeah, it was..." He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Long story. But it really is weird looking down to see you."

Noa laughed and playfully punched him in the arm. "Look out! I'm still growing!"

Lloyd laughed as well. Oh, it was nice to spend time with his friend again. "So, uh, do you live in the city now?"

She sighed. "I wish. Just visiting now. Actually leaving tomorrow morning."

The young ninja's hopes fell just like that. "Oh," he said. So he wouldn't be able to spend time with his old friend again. They wouldn't be able to spend time together like old times. At least for now, today was the only day they could spend time together. Lloyd had to meet up with the ninja again by dinner, but "Do you maybe wanna hang out this afternoon? If you have time?"

"That would be awesome! I'd love to hear how you ended up a ninja, by the looks of it."

Lloyd took her around the city. He took her to Doomsday Comics, his favorite sweet shop, and all the while they talked back and forth about all that changed in their lives. He told her all about how the ninja took him in, how he was now the Green Ninja fated to save the world in the Final Battle between Dark and Light. Noa told him about her older half-brother, Ashley, and all of her aunts, uncles, and cousins. The adults had to leave for work a lot of times. The cousins left a lo too, even her brother sometimes. But their was always at least one aunt or uncle in the house with her, and Aubrey was there more and more often as time went on.

The last place they stopped at was a photo booth. Both of them thought it would be nice to have a photo of each other if they couldn't hang out again for a while. The first picture was them sitting with simple smiles, then them holding bunny ears behind each others heads. Third was Noa standing on her knees, ruffling Lloyd's hair. Forth was Lloyd in turn ruffling Noa's hair. The last photo was the two of them trying to stop laughing. The photo booth printed out two copies of their photos. "One for each of us," Noah said. "Cool how it works out like that."

Lloyd thought about what the others would say if he ever showed them these pictures, told them about the afternoon. He could already hear Jay teasing him about going on a date (it wasn't). He could see Cole or Kai asking "When you gonna go see your girlfriend again?" for days to come. There was no way he could ever tell them about this. Never in a million years. "So, this is good bye, I guess? But, not forever right?"

Noa sighed. "Yeah... I suppose." She smiled at him. "Good luck saving the world!"

"You too!" Immediately, he hit himself in the face. FSM, that was quite possibly the worst thing he could say! At least his old friend didn't seem to mind much. She laughed as she waved to him good bye. There was something in the way the sun hit her, or the way she was walking. Her hair had this glow, her eyes were shining, and it looked nearly like she was floating. Lloyd's heart fluttered, a weird feeling in his chest that he had no idea why it was even there.

They never seemed to meet up again. Noa might have been in the crowd to see him off to the island of Darkness. Lloyd couldn't be sure, the mental image of her in the crowd was blurry for whatever reason. He still had the strip of photos, and still hadn't told the other Ninja about her either. At one point, he hid the photo by folding it in an old t-shirt and putting it with a lot of his old kid stuff. At first it stayed in the back of his bedroom closet at his dad's monastery, then on the Bounty, then somewhere in a storage room with all of the other ninja's old things. He'd almost forgotten about it completely, that is until one fateful day.


	2. A Chance Encounter

Lloyd wakes up groggy and sore. He _definitely_ didn't sleep well last night. Looks like he's the last one up, too. He drags himself out of bed and towards the kitchen. Breakfast. Caffeine. Oh, he really hopes there wasn't any rough training planned for today. The green ninja doesn't think he can manage being very up and active today. He stretches his arms above his head and lets out a loud yawn. Well, okay, he'd probably be up for anything after a nap.

Lloyd follows the sounds of his fellow ninja and the television. Sounds like the news is on. The closer he gets, the more he can make out the words on the news. _"-New Ninjago City being the first to welcome Serpentine citizens. The Serpentine tunnels under the city are also opening for human to take up residence."_

_"Thaaaat's right! We all already know about the restaurants and stores in this Serpentine-Human co-op project. Great to have the housing finally in the works!"_

_"Now there seems to be some concerns, Gail, about the growing organization, the Faith."_

_"That's right. Many citizens, human and Serpentine alike, are worried about what this group may do."_

Lloyd enters the room with a yawn. "Good morning everyone."

"Ah, nice of you to join us, Lloyd." Sensei Wu sips on his tea. "You missed family breakfast."

_"In celebration of the opening,_ _there will be a ball in the rebuilt Ninjago Palace."_

"Forgive me, Master." The green ninja bowed slightly. "Did I... miss anything?"

"As a matter of fact-"

_"Ninjago's very own ninja will be there as guests of honor!"_

Wait, what?

Jay stands up excitedly. "We're going to a _ball!_ A BALL, Lloyd! We've _never_ been invited to a ball!"

"Hey! Watch the cake!" Cole yanks his plate away from Jay's arm. "I've been _saving_ this!"

"Then don't eat it in the morning!"

The two ninja continue their playful banter. Lloyd thinks on the news for a few minutes. A ball? "Are... are we gonna wear our ninja suits?"

Kai groans. "It's too formal an event for that. Wu says I have to go shopping today since I don't have the 'proper formal attire.'" Of course the red ninja would be unhappy about the situation. He absolutely _hates_ clothes shopping. Not out of boredom or anything. He's complained to Lloyd about it before. It's more the trying things on, people staring out him coming out in an outfit that may not fit him well, the occasional person confusing him for a girl.

"Guess I'm with you on that one," Lloyd sighs. "The only dress clothes I have are a wrinkled button up and a too small blazer."

"Perhaps you could join us to the mall, as well!" Zane said with a smile. "Pixel also needs some new formal wear. I was just inviting Kai to join us as well."

"Sounds fun. I'm in."

After some food and a short session of group meditation, the four of them head over to the new and improved mall. It's expanded a floor or two and dozens of new stores. The store they go to first is on one of the new subterranean floors. From the outside, it looks small, but is much bigger on the inside. "Welcome, cussstomersss." Greets a serpentine employee. "Is there anything I could assssisssst you with?"

"We're shopping for formal clothes." _Well, no duh, Kai!_

The employee cocks their head in mild confusion. "Is there a specific style you're looking for?"

"Uh..."

"We're looking for attire to wear to a ball this evening," Pixel cuts in.

"Our apologizes," Zane adds on, "He's not used to shopping for formal wear."

"Oh!" The serpentine brightens up. "I jussst helped a friend find clothesss for a sssimilar event. Let me show you to the right sssection."

The employee is incredible friendly and helpful. They clearly enjoy helping people find the right style for them. In the very back of his mind, Lloyd can remember his uncle teaching him "never trust a snake." Of course, the old sensei would take those words back now. Especially seeing how this one knew so much about these clothes and styles. Pixel finds the perfect dress for herself. Kai, ever fickle about what he wears and how he looks, found a few outfits he liked. Lloyd, who wears whatever is comfortable, green, and/or black, found something he actually enjoyed looking out himself wearing.

"Wow. Didn't expect that to go so well," Kai says as they walk out of the store. "Actually thought we'd be here longer."

"Thank you for paying, Pixel."

"It was no trouble, Lloyd."

"Hey, maybe we could check out the rest of the mall?" The red ninja suggests. "Or we could at least of the the food court for lunch? I'm hungry."

"Did you not have enough for breakfast?"

Lloyd subconsciously tunes them out as they pass by this one grassy spot. A patch of grass maybe about a quarter of the size of the park in New Ninjago City. A large glass dome in the ceiling lets in light from the upper floors and skylights above. Some people enjoy sitting around in the grass. One person catches the youngest ninja's eyes. One person basking in the sun, a few bags from a few stores next to them. Their hair is just this super pretty shade of purple-

"Lloyd?"

He tears his eyes away from the person. "Hmm?"

"Are you coming?"

"Yeah? Sorry. I was zoning out for a minute. Where are we going?"

Zane gives him a sort of understanding look. "We were thinking of trying out the boba tea place. Would you like to try some as well?"

"Oh! Yeah. Sounds good." Lloyd looks back to that spot again, just for a moment. That purple hair wasn't there anymore, and he didn't have time to look long enough to see where they went. Maybe he was just seeing what he wanted to see. What was he thinking? The odds that he'd just randomly run into Noa like this after_ years_ weren't too good. The green ninja turns his full attention back to his friends. "What _is_ boba, anyway?"

"I think it's some kind of fruit?" Kai shrugs. "It's pretty good, though."

Lloyd decides on this pink, strawberry flavored drink. It really does taste pretty good. They're looking for a place to sit for a bit when Lloyd sees the purple hair again. This time, much closer so he can get a better look. That pretty pretty purple couldn't be dyed. It is the same down to the roots, even the eyebrows are the same shade. He knows who it is, even though they look different just a bit. The hair is shorter, but still as airy as ever. Wide, round glasses frame pink eye that he knows look blue in a different light.

A jacket, half purple, half green, with a white stripe in the middle, is decorated with a few buttons. Lloyd notices a few pride buttons, one of which he recognizes as pansexual pride ones he wishes he could have. He sees a pronoun button. _They/them._ Ah. Okay. Already his brain changes any _she_ or _her_ he called Noa into a _they_ or _them_. Out of any change that could have happened over the years, that should definitely be the easiest to adjust to.

They're looking at him now. Oh no. He's been caught staring hasn't he? Oh, he looks weird and creepy now. "Lloyd?"

Lloyd feels frozen for a moment. Noa not only recognizes him, but wants to talk to him after all this time. And here he is just standing like a dumbstruck idiot. _Say something!_ "H-hey..." _Wow. Amazing. 10/10._ "It's... it's been a while, huh?"

Kai leans his elbow on Lloyd's shoulder, reminding him that there are other people there. "Who's this here?" His voice is filled with that 'teasing older brother' tone. "A friend of yours?"

"An... an old friend, yeah."

Noa sticks out their hand and introduces themself. "My name's Noa. They/them."

The red ninja takes their hand. "Kai. He/him. I think I remember seeing you in this photo Lloyd thought he hid well."

The younger one's face grew warm. _When did he find it?_ Zane and Pixel introduce themselves as well. "How long have you known each other?" The white ninja asks. "If you don't mind us asking."

"Gosh. It's been so long. We were both kids, I know that."

"Hey, how about you two catch up?" Kai suggests, practically pushing Lloyd forward. "The rest of us can go ahead back to the monastery."

"Um, y-yeah! That'd be fun right?" Lloyd has no idea why he's stuttering like this. He must be really nervous about this.

"Sure! That sounds like fun!"

Kai takes Lloyd's shopping bag from him. And rushes off quickly. "Awesome. See you later Lloyd!" Pixel seems mildly confussed at the haste, but Zane simply shrugs. They follow after the red ninja, leaving the two old friends to themselves.

Lloyd shuffles his feet. "You... cut your hair, I see."

Noa nods. "I see you grew yours out."

"Yeah." What else? What else could he say. "I like your buttons! Where'd you get them?"

His friend looks down at the buttons in question. "I actually got some of them from a store here. I could show you to it?"

"Yeah! That'd be great!"


	3. The Ball (Flowers)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song for this chapter: https://youtu.be/EVy9WaTzTiA

Tonight is an important night. He had to be careful. Couldn't be too much, lest he rouse suspicion. Couldn't be too little, either. Tonight he needs to blend in seamlessly with the common crowd. Too many risks with standing out. _They_ would see. _They_ would surely cause him trouble at just a hint of something wrong. Caution was of utmost importance.

He stands on a rooftop. No one notices him. Even if someone were to look up, they would not see him in the dark of the night. Darkness is on his side. Always, darkness will protect him. Keep him safe and hidden. Tonight, he would have to step out of the safety of the shadows, but that doesn't mean he can't enjoy a bit more time being invisible. The master of darkness leaps off, enjoying the free fall. He swoops up just before the ground, a smile painted on his face. None of the people walking by can see him, though. The only possible sign of him being there was a small, sudden gust of wind.

Tonight is an important night. Tonight he steps into the light.

* * *

Lloyd tightens his tie, silently thankful he didn't untie it after trying it on in the store. Tying ties is still a struggle for him. "I'm telling you guys, it was NOT a date. We were just catching up."

"Why didn't you invite them back to the monastery? Or invite them to the ball tonight?"

"They have a job tonight." Lloyd thinks for a minute about combing his hair back, then decides against it. "They're in a band now."

"Ooooh. You've got a thing for a musician."

"Jay, don't tease him too, much!"

Lloyd sighs. Of course. They did this same kind of thing back with... her. Yeah, he's not going to think about that mess. Tonight they are representing a peaceful future for Ninjago. Tonight is to be a nice, calm night with no fighting. With any luck, that's exactly what it will be. "What time do we need to leave again?"

"Five minutes." Everyone in the room jumps. Sensei Wu appeared seemingly out of nowhere in the doorway. "I suggest you all hurry."

Kai and Jay both scramble the finish getting ready. Lloyd, Cole, and Zane are already basically done. Nya and Pixel went to get ready elsewhere, so they wouldn't really know if they were ready or not. They all meet up again on the deck of the Bounty. Sensei reminds them to be on their best behavior, keep a calm and civil atmosphere, but keep on the look out for trouble. "The Faith has sent out threats towards this event," he tells them. "There's no telling if any of them will follow through."

"Don't worry, Sensei!" Lloyd assures him. "We'll be careful."

All of the others voice their agreements. Sensei Wu stands still for a moment, expression unreadable. They park the Bounty in a reasonable place then enter the party. Immediately, Lloyd notices that this isn't the usual stuffy high fancy atmosphere. Everything seems to have a hint of something rustic. Even the music seems to be a mix of classical and folk. It made everything just a bit more comfortable. And the flowers. White lilies, red poppies, yellow daisies.

Before the dancing starts, there's a program and dinner they need to sit through. The mayor walks up to the podium, makes a speech about peace and community. Lloyd tries his best to pay attention, but he's sitting in a weird spot at their table. He has to turn around almost completely to view the stage. Scales comes up to the podium as well to give a little speech of his own. Very impressive. "Let us ring in a new age for our peoples," he says, "For us, and for out offspring!" Everyone raises their glasses in cheers. A new band comes out to play music (a few bands are supposed to cycle throughout the night). Now, the dancing can begin.

The other ninja quickly go off to their own activities. Kai went off to mingle with the crowds. Pixel and Zane went off to dance quietly together. Cole had been at the table for a little bit, eating the cake they handed out, before being dragged to the dance floor by Nya and Jay. Lloyd and Sensei Wu are the only ones still sitting at the table. "Nephew." the sensei says. Lloyd immediately turns his attention to him. He hasn't called him 'nephew' in years. At least two. "I was wondering about this friend you ran into today."

"Noa? What about them." Lloyd feels nervous, for whatever weird reason.

"I don't recall you ever talking much about them."

"Well, I didn't really talk about any friends from Darkley's, either."

"That is true." Sensei Wu takes a sip out of his tea. Lloyd is so on edge, and he doesn't know why. It's like he's been caught in something. Something he's purposely said nothing about, like a secret, but he has no idea what secret he's supposed to be keeping. "Will they be coming to the monastery often?"

"I... don't know. Maybe. We like, just met for the first time in a few years. We kinda have to get to know each other again, you know?" He's suddenly very thirsty. Lloyd picks up his glass of water and takes a big gulp. He hears the next band announced. Sounds kinda like a punk band. The music starts. Guitars and violins. Once the singing starts, Lloyd feels everything stop.

That... that voice. It's just so... smooth. Sweet. Hypnotic. Powerful. And he knows it. He swears, he knows who that voice comes from. Lloyd turns around to face the stage. That's... that's Noa. Of course it is. They have the best singing voice anyone's ever heard. They have on a blueish grey suit jacket on over a white button up. They're either wearing billowy dress pants or a skirt. Lloyd can't exactly tell from where he is. But sweet heavens that voice.

"Dreams are sweet, Until they're not.

Men are kind, Until they aren't.

Flowers will bloom, Until they rot and, Fall apart."

_FSM What is wrong with his chest right now?_ Something about the song is just so raw and emotional.

"Nothing

Nothing gonna wake me now.

Flowers, I remember fields

Of flowers, soft beneath my heels

Walking in the sun

I remember someone."

For a moment, Lloyd thinks Noa looks towards him. Right into his eyes.

"Someone by my side

Turned his face to mine

And then I turned away

Into the shade.

You, the one I left behind

If you ever walk this way

Come and find me, Lying in the bed I made."

The green ninja is jolted out of his thoughts by the applause. He'd somehow forgotten there were other people in the room. Throughout the song, it felt like Lloyd and Noa were the only two in the room. Oh geez. The band gets ready to perform another song, and the young ninja doesn't know if he can handle this.

* * *

"Okay, the Green Ninja guy was staring at you through out _all_ of the songs."

"Oh?" Noa pretends this is news. It isn't really.

"And his name is Lloyd? Noa, please, are Lloyd the Green Ninja and Lloyd the Best Friend the exact same Lloyd!?"

"Well, if you wanna get technical with it-"

"NOA!" The serpentine drummer/violinist grasps the singer by the shoulders. "THIS IS A BIG BOMBSHELL YOU'RE DROPPING HERE! THIS GUY IS ALSO LLOYD THE BRAT WHO RELEASED THE SERPENTINE! DID YOU KNOW THAT!?!"

"Rocky," the serpentine guitarist interrupts. "Calm down. Let..." She trails off for a moment. "What were the pronouns tonight? I think I forgot to ask."

"You're fine, Feathry. You know, I'm think I'm feeling more he/him than I was earlier today."

"Right. Rocky, put him down and calm yourself before you cause a scene."

Rocky puts his friend down and dusts off his shoulders. "Sorry, friend. Just... He was looking at you like a lovestruck fool while you were singing."

Noa shrugs. "My voice has a way with people."

"Didn't see anyone else stare like that. And it never happens when we perform punk songs."

"Those are for firing you up, not slow dancing. There's a difference."

"All of you, shut up for a minute." The human bassist/celloist waves hir hands in the air to get the group's attention. "Those ninja have spent, like, five minutes trying to convince the green dude to walk over here. Meet him half way!"

Noa turns around to look. The most obvious look of it is a few of the ninja teasing the youngest, who seems to be blushing just a bit. "I don't know. He could be blushing about anything. Even the smallest blush is pretty clear on that pale face." Just then, Lloyd looks his way. Not knowing what else to do, he smiles and waves at the ninja. _Wow. Real smooth._ The black ninja sends Lloyd walking his direction with one strong push. Noa holds a hand up behind him to keep his friends from shoving him out there. "I'm going. I'm going."

The two old friends meet together near the dance floor. Lloyd speaks first. "H-hey."

"Hey..."

"So, um..." Lloyd scratches the back of his head. "This is where you were performing tonight?"

"Yeah..." Noa rubs his arm awkwardly. "Is it as ironic as you would have expected?"

"Honestly? It's not as surprising as I would have expected."

They both laugh. "Yeah. Just a little funny, but not that surprising."

The music picks up, some sort of soft tango or waltz. They're both right there at the dance floor. They might as well, right? Noa holds up a hand towards his friend. "You wanna dance or something?"

Hesitantly, Lloyd takes the hand with a smile. "Sure. Why not." The dance requires them to be close together, embracing each other. Noa doesn't find this all too awkward or unusual. He remembers when they were kids taking naps together. This dancing isn't too different from that closeness, right? The two swirl around the room slowly. Lloyd stares on his feet most of the time. "I'm... not too good of a dancer..."

"That's alright. I'd say you're doing pretty good." Noa leads the ninja into another slow spin. He can see some of his band mates giving small thumbs up. He also sees the ninja trying to hide thumbs up that were probably for Lloyd. "Is it just me, or are both of our friend groups trying to set us up together or something?"

"That would be weird, right?"

"Yeah. Like, 'Hello person I haven't seen in a few years. Let us smooch each others faces.'"

Lloyd snorts. Oh, how it feels good to make him snort again. Granted, he did snort more than once while at the mall, but it hasn't lost any charm now. "Oh wow. Just- 'Hi, yes. I'm thinking a spring wedding.'" They both laugh. Noa can't get over how good it feels to hang out again. It's like they're picking up right where they left off before he left all those years ago. The song stops, so the two have to begrudgingly pull apart. They smile at each other.

Suddenly the lights cut off. The attendants anxiously chatter. Noa can see Lloyd get ready in a fighting stance. He hears a stranger shout, "YOU HEATHENS! MONSTERS!" and the singer tries not to groan out loud. _Those_ guys. Seriously? Did they hate when people were happy and enjoying themselves? "THIS GREAT NATION _WON'T_ BE RUINED BY YOU **FREAKS**!!" Well, looks like it's time to get ready for a fight.


	4. The Good Fight

The Faith are here. Or at least a smallish group of them are. How did they get in ? How did they cut the power? Lloyd didn't know. What he did know was that someone was now shouting hate and he could hardly see anything. If he can't see the threat right now, he had to focus on protecting those around him. That meant Noa. "Stay close."

"You know I'm not helpless, right?" Noa moves so that they stand back to back. "Have you seen me fight?"

"Not that I can remember." Lloyd's eyes adjust to the darkness. He sees one person on stage in a yellow robe, shouting their hateful speech. He sees Kai jump on the stage.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you got an invitation."

"You dirty little sinner! You heathen!"

Cole jumps up on the stage, too. "Yeah, yeah. Hellfire and all that. Now, this will be a lot easier for you if you come quietly."

"SILENT, YE SCUM! SOUL CORRUPTED BY THE WICKEDNESS OF FLESH! WE, THE TRUE FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS OF THE TRUE GOD ORPHEUS, HAVE COME TO PURIFY YOU OF THE FILTH!"

Kai and Cole both move to grab the stranger, but more yellow robed figures appear to fight the two ninjas.

"LET US SAVE YOUR SOULS! BEFORE THE DARK ONE'S MARCH! BROTHERS, I BEG OFF THEE! DO NOT ALLOW THE FILTH INTO YOUR-"

A shoe to the face cuts off the robed hater. A shoe from a certain purple haired singer. "Noa!" Lloyd whispers harshly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm doing what Grandpa Haden taught me to do in these situations." Noa takes off his other shoe. "FIGHT ME, OH WORSHIPERS OF HATE! FIGHT ME!"

"Noa, no!" Lloyd tries to grab his friend's wrist.

"Noa, yes!" Noa avoids Lloyd's grasp and throws the shoe. The speaker is again hit in the face.

"WHO-- HOW DARE--"

Another shoe was thrown at the speaker, not from Noa this time. Yellow robed figures leave the stage and go out into the crowd. Lloyd runs in with the other ninja, as well as Skales and some of his warriors, to fight off these party-crashers. With the Serpentine joining in the fight, they manage to out number the yellow robes.

Someone finally gets the lights back on. Lloyd notices Noa and his bandmates joining the fight. They're... huh. Noa fights pretty good. Well, the other band members fight good, but Noa is more... refined. Like he had more form and precision that usually only came with training. Where did he learn to fight like that?

Lloyd tries not to think on that long. They win the fight and all of the yellow robed figures are tied up. The mayor has a big cake brought out to try and lighten the mood. Noa and his friends high five each other. The ninja go off with the head of security to find out what how those "protestors" got in. (Protestors being much too kind a word.)

"I... I don't know what happened!" the guard stutters. "I just went to change shifts with one of my guys, and I find a bunch of them tied up!"

"What about security cameras?" Jay asks. "You have those, right?"

"I... I can check..."

"Someone should stay back with the guests in the mean time," Cole suggest, taking a bite of cake. "You know. make sure nothing else goes wrong. Makes it look like everything is under control if we're not all gone."

"How do you manage to say something so good yet look like you just had a dumb idea?"

"Hey!"

"Lloyd, why don't you go back to the party?" Nya jumps in, cutting off the playful argument about to happen.

"Wait, me?"

Kai ruffles his hair. "I vote I go, too. I just know Lloyd is going to get distracted by a certain purple-haired friend, and and things will look more normal if I'm there to tease him about it."

Lloyd blushes. "Kai, no."

"Too late."

Kai practically drags Lloyd back to the party. The younger ninja doesn't mind much. Noa sees the two of them almost as soon as they walk into the ballroom. He waves them over to him and his other friends. "Hey! That situation with the piss folk get handled?"

Kai bursts out a laugh. "Piss folk. That _was _a lot yellow, huh?"

"I can't take credit for that joke. Someone at a punk concert screamed it while the piss folk attacked."

"Oh, oh!" One of the serpentine band members, blue and dark grey, waves her arm around. "You should have seen how everyone fought back! They were so strong and resilient!"

"Sounds like a time."

The serpentine holds out her hand. "My name's Feathry. She/her. My brother, Rocky, is right there. He/him. And that's-"

The human band member puts a hand on Feathry's shoulder. "Calm down, friendo. Let me introduce myself. I am Jessie. Ze/hir. I've got, like, business cards all about those pronouns if you want one."

"Actually, yeah. I might need one."

Kai and Lloyd, as it turns out, don't need to introduce themselves much. Noa has already talked about meeting them at the mall. "Hey, if I may add in some brotherly teasing-"

"Kai. Kai, no." Lloyd blushes. "I swear, I will tell everyone about your sock drawer."

Kai stares blankly for a moment. "You... WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN MY SOCK DRAWER!?!"

Noa laughs loudly at the two of them. Oh, how Lloyd likes that laugh. Feathry laughs as well, though it sounds much lighter and airy. "I don't think it could be much worse than what I found in _my_ brother's drawers."

Rocky makes a combination of a hissing noise and a dinosaur screech. Jessie pats him on the nose. "It's alright, boo. Keep your secrets."

"ANYWAY! Shot in the dark, but are you guys a punk band?" Kai shifts the subject. "The name, Feathered Serpent, just reminded me of a punk band for some reason."

"Heck yeah!" Feathry practically bounces with excitement. "We usually do more underground gigs, like in garages and basements and abandoned buildings. Although we did get to play at this punk expo concert!"

Oh yeah. Noa told Lloyd about that back at the mall. He remembers The Faith protesting the concert, then they tried to get violent. "Wait, Noa, is that where your brother hit someone with a chair?"

Noa laughs. "Oh yeah! Everyone was stunned that he'd do that! He's such a shy pacifist, no one expected it!"

"Excuse me?"

The group turns to see Gail Gossip, microphone in hand. "I don't suppose any of you would mind being interviewed about what happened tonight? The people want to know what happened, and first hand accounts are incredibly valuable!"

"Well," Jessie shrugs. "I don't really mind if you guys don't mind." Ze turns to Rocky. "You wanna maybe be on TV, boo?"

"Sure. Why not."

Noa shakes his head no. "Sorry. Not too good in front of cameras. Unless music is involved, but that's a weird story."

Feathry agrees to an interview as well. The three of them go off for interviews, leaving Noa, Lloyd, and Kai by the punch bowl. Kai gets a cup of punch for himself. Lloyd looks out across the ballroom. "Hey, Noa?"

"Yeah?"

"Is that one of your shoes still over there?"

"Oh. Yeah, I haven't really had time yet to get my shoes back."

"We could get them for you," Kai suggests.

"Hang on, Kai. If I know Noa as well as I think I do, he's just using this as a chance to be barefoot."

Noa laughs. "Yeah, I've only got, like, three pairs of shoes I actually want to wear. Don't go getting them back just for me."

"Oh. So, you've got one of those pairs, or are you more of a barefoot person?"

"Honestly, I didn't have the foresight to bring extra shoes." The singer lifts up one of his feet and wiggles his toes. "But man, do I love the the air in my toes. It's so freeing."

Lloyd laughs. "I remember once you gathered a bunch of your old shoes and we threw them at rocks."

"And trees! I vividly remember a shoe ending up hanging from a tree branch by it's laces." Noe gets a cup of punch for himself.

It takes a moment, but Lloyd actually _can_ remember throwing shoes at trees. He remembers throwing more shoes at the caught shoe to see if they could knock it down again. The memory made the young ninja sputter and laugh. "Oh gosh. I think I'm actually having trouble remembering you wearing _any_ shoes when we were kids!"

"Pst." Lloyd hadn't really caught that at first. It could have been anything, really. _"Pssssst."_

The three of them turn around to see Jay trying to wave the two ninja over. "Jay, you look ridiculous right now," Kai points out.

"We found something."

Lloyd turns to Noa. "I'll catch up with you later, okay?"

He gives the green ninja a thumbs up. "Go ahead and do your ninja stuff. I'll be fine."

Kai and Lloyd go with Jay. The master of lightning takes them through the hallways. "So, we were looking through security videos and stuff. We've got a bit of an idea of how those guys got in. But, like, there was something... weird."

"How weird?" Lloyd asks.

"You have to see for yourself. Like, here." Jay guides them into what must be the security room. There were several screens, and Sensei Wu, Pixel, and the other ninja were crowded around one of the screens. "We're back."

Lloyd approaches the monitor everyone's crowded around. "What did you guys find?"

Nya waves them over. "Come look at this! It's happened a few times going through the footage. The image just... skips. Like, it skips a few seconds or a minute."

"That tends to happen with video, doesn't it?"

"Not this high tech. This is all digital, not the out-dated VHS type of stuff." Nya slows down the footage. "And it's just from tonight!"

"So, maybe those guys somehow got in here and cut that footage?" Lloyd squints at the screen. "Wait, what was that! Go back a bit, I saw something!"

"Where?" Nya stops the video and goes back frame by frame.

"There! Right there!" Lloyd points at the screen as the water ninja pauses the video. "Look at that shadow there. Doesn't it look like the shadow of someone passing by?"

Zane hums in thought as he stares at the timestamp on the frame. "This right after one of those time skips. Maybe whoever cut the footage missed this small shadow."

"But, if that's the shadow of a person, then..." Cole puts his finger right up to the screen. He puts his finger on the shadow figure on the wall, then moves his finger to the nearby shadow of a plant. The black ninja dragged his finger to where the plant was actually in frame, then to where the person casting the shadow should be. However, there was nothing under or around his finger but empty space.

"Where's the person?"


	5. Things Spark Here

Noa was born in a tiny house in the woods. A tiny, wooden house whose creation was sparked by their existence. They spent the early years of their life in that house, and stayed there even after both of their parents died. They only left it at first because relatives came to bring them home. These days, the house is still well maintained, old memories and family secrets locked inside.

Apartments are like tiny houses. Tiny houses stacked together in one building or more. Sometimes below ground. Sometimes high above. Noa is happy that everyone can finally move in to Slithering Hollows. They've been waiting almost too long. Finally, they can live in the same building as their bandmates, and get their brother, Ashley, out of that absolutely terrible apartment.

Of course, those piss folk try to protest. These members of "The Faith" shout and wave signs at every car and moving truck that comes to the apartment complex. The police make sure the protestors stay out of the way, and detain any of the more violent ones. Still, they are a huge pain to deal with. Thankfully, these guys wouldn't even _think_ of blocking the entrance in the lower Serpentine city.

"Noa." Ashley grips tightly to the steering wheel of their rental moving truck. "You sure there would be any of those... _dumb-dumbs_ at the border checkpoint?"

"Not with the Serpentine running it. I'm pretty sure their focus right now is to at least keep humans from getting in." Noa raises their feet up on the dashboard. "There's one thing people like that hate more than 'others,' and it's people who support 'others,' you know?"

"Yeah, like Grandpa Haden always said." Ashley takes a deep breath and loosens his death grip on the steering wheel. "You owe me five bucks if they're trying to block off the underground."

Noa laughs. "No, I'll owe you **50** bucks. That's how confident I am."

There is some traffic before the checkpoint. They weren't the only people trying to avoid The Faith on the surface. The Serpentine were also rather careful about the vehicles they allowed underground. Car exhaust takes long to dissipate underground, and they like their air down there to be clean. Of course, there was a parking lot and mostly electric busses for people who really needed to get down there, but moving trucks and vans were trickier.

"So, brother, do can you see up to the front?"

Ashley stands up a bit in his seat. "I... think so? Kinda. I see a few moving vans in front of us."

"And no piss folk, right?"

He sits down fully in his seat. "They could be in a car."

"And you could be worrying too much."

It's another fifteen minutes until they finally make it to the checkpoint. It's notably clear of protesters, leading Noa to playfully nudge their brother. Ashley shushes them. They still have to actually make it through. A Serpentine approaches the driver side window. "Hello there. Moving into Slithering Hollows today?"

"That is correct, friend."

The inspector hums. "Then I suppose this would be a rental you are driving, yes?"

"That is correct."

"Would you please open the hood if you can?"

"Of course." Ashley reaches and pulls a lever near the steering wheel. The hood on the front of the truck pops, and the inspector opens it completely.

Noa already knows the truck will pass. Ashley spent almost a week making sure they had the most eco-friendly truck rental in town. It helps that they only needed one of the smaller trucks. Those tend to be better than the bigger ones. Of course, the Serpentine still need to be thorough. Noa couldn't blame them, really. Too many people out there don't care about air quality.

Their phone buzzed in their pocket. Noa pulls it out to see a message from Lloyd. It's a picture of the black ninja of earth, crumpled up on the floor near an oven behind him. I comes with the caption "We have to leave in 5 min and his cake isn't done."

Noa smiles. They quickly send a text back.

me: Can't the fire ninja do something?

Lloyd: THEY LITERALLY JUST

About a minute, and another picture comes through. This one has the red ninja of fire, Kai, pulling an under-cooked cake out of the oven. the earth ninja seems to be egging the other on.

Lloyd: LITERALLY A SECOND AFTER YOU SENT THAT

Noa laughs behind their palm. Goodness. They're going to burn down the monastery like that!

me: 1,600 degrees for 4 minutes. let's go.

Lloyd: PFFF

Lloyd: Sensei Wu just walked in.

Lloyd: Now we have to leave early and the cake is ruined

me: rip cake

The singer feels the jerk of the truck starting again. Oh. The inspection is over. Huh. Noa didn't realize they were paying so little attention. "So," Ashley starts, "One of the bandmates send a funny meme?"

"Lloyd did, actually. Ninja shenanigans."

Ashley hums in thought. "They'd help hold off the protestors, right? I mean, I know they fought the Serpentine years ago, but... it's their job the protect the citizens of Ninjago, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Probably." Noa takes a moment to imagine it. There'd be a chance of running into the ninja, then. Did they remember to mention moving into the new apartments? "They'll probably guard the place for a bit, too. Make sure no one tries to break, wreck the place, or whatever was up with the party last night."

"Now _that's_ not something that worries me as much. Most of the people in our building would fight them back without too much of a problem."

"True, brother. True."

* * *

"Oh, thank you sooo much, dearies!" The old woman hobbles over to the counter and sits down on a stool. Jay drops a box on the ground with a loud THUD.

"It's no problem, ma'am." Cole shifts the boxes he's holding to one arm so he can use to other arm to grab a cupcake. Jay would probably argue that Cole only wanted to help the old woman because she offered cupcakes. Actually, that was only one of the reasons. He's not so heartless as to NOT try to help a sweet old lady.

Jay walks over and grabs a cupcake for himself. "Show off," he mutters to the other ninja.

Cole smiles and puts the last of the boxes down. "Do you need any help unpacking, ma'am?"

"Oh, no no no." The woman waves them off. "The grandchildren should be done with work soon enough. You boys go back to keeping our people safe."

Cole picks out another cupcake for himself. "Thank you for the cupcakes!"

"Have a nice day," Jay says with a wave. The two ninja leave the apartment and make their way to the elevator. "Looks like you still got your cake. Even after you and Kai ruined the last one."

"Hey! It could have worked! 2,000 degrees, and it would have been done in **seconds**."

Jay laughs as he presses the button to call for the elevator. "Or Kai would have burned the place down."

Cole crosses his arms and puffs up his chest, but he can't help the smile on his face. The elevator doesn't come immediately. It takes a minute or so before it opens to left off a few passengers. No one else is there to ride down with the ninja. It's just the two of them. Alone.

He doesn't let his heart get the best of him. Not yet. Even though his heart hammers against his chest, and his legs wanted to shake as they stepped into the empty elevator. The Master of Earth is sturdy. Strong. He only shakes when he's cold. Definitely not when he's nervous. Nervous? Him? PSH! No. He wasn't nervous! 

"Hey, Cole? Hellooooooo." Jay waves his hand in front of Cole's face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" Cole realizes he'd zoned out in front of the elevator buttons for at least a minute. He quickly presses the button to get them to the upper lobby. "I was just thinking."

"Not of anything stupid this time, I hope."

Cole playfully elbows the blue ninja. They stand side by side as the elevator goes down. Right next to each other. Jay's hand was just inches away from his own. Cole could very easily pick it up right now. He could pick it up and not even worry about what onlookers might think. His fingers twitch, and he keeps glancing over at the other ninja.

Of course, Jay catches him staring at some point. Their eyes lock for a moment. Jay's eyes flick towards the floor number above the elevator door. "Still have five floors left."

Cole nods, his face getting warmer. "Slow elevator." There's plenty of time left for them here.

Jay nods and steps a bit closer. They could do it. Right here. Right now. No one they didn't tell would know.

"GUYS!"

The two ninja jump away from each other. Kai's urgent voice over the coms had startled them.

"Guys, there are protesters the Burrow Checkpoint! And it sounds like things are getting pretty bad over there!"

"I thought there were Serpentine warriors over there?"

"They're the ones asking for help! Or at least a few of them."

Jay sighs and moves to put his hood up. Cole quickly speaks, "Uh, Jay and I are kinda stuck in the elevator. Not _stuck_ stuck, but, like, it's moving slow." Jay puts his hand make down and gives a small smile. They still had time. At least a few floors left.

"It's alright. Kai, Zane and I will go over there to see what we can do," Lloyd directs over their coms. "You two just make sure nothing goes bad out front here."

"Pix and I are handling things good enough out here," comes Nya's sweet voice. "Don't you boys worry too much about us!"

"Jay and I can help Nya and Pixel once we get out," Cole says. "Just to make sure we aren't spread too thin or anything."

"Yeah, we'll probably handle whatever these guys are up to on our own before you two would even be able to get here." Kai, as cocky as ever. That seems to be where the conversation ends. Cole goes ahead and turns his coms off. Jay does the same. Looks like they could excusably be alone for a while longer.

* * *

"What did I say?"

Noa sighs. "Alright."

"I told you they'd probably show up at the checkpoint, and what happened?" Ashley hefts up a box from the truck. his sibling just kinda grumbles and stares at their phone. One of the bandmates was hanging up concert posters near the checkpoint. "Are you going to help?"

"I'm going over there." Noa jumped down from the edge of the truck. "I've gotta make sure things are alright over there."

"Then hurry before I get all the boxes up by myself." The younger sibling nods and runs off. Ashley smiles. He knows things will be fine. At worst, they'll be a little rattled, but nothing they couldn't sing away at the Feathered Serpent concert tonight. Music always helped in their family.

The pink-haired man quickly closes the truck up before heading into the apartment building. Never really looked good leaving a truck wide open like that. Ashley walks slow as he thinks of which route he wants to take to their new apartment. Most people will be using the elevators. At least one of those elevators are sure to be moving too slow. But they were too far high to take the stairs the whole way. Unless he...

Someone suddenly runs straight into Ashley and the box he's holding. The wind is almost immediately knocked out of him. He stumbles, struggles to regain his balance. "Sorry! Sorry." The person who ran into him holds onto both the box and Ashley in a way. They hold his arms where they're touching the box. "I wasn't looking. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ashley looks up at the stranger. His heart explodes in his in a flutter POOMF. _It's HIM._ The boy he's looking at has spiked brown hair, a scar going through an eyebrow and down the side of his face, and that famous red outfit. "I... I wasn't really looking either." Oh, the red ninja is too frickin' attractive.

The ninja smiles at him. "Sorry. I have too hurry." He ushers himself around Ashley. He's gotta be heading towards the exit. The Red Ninja runs off and yells back, "I'll have to make up for this later! You're hair is cool!"

"Th-thank you!"

That boy could in no way know what he was doing to Ashley. If anyone was watching, they'd probably say something like, "Look at him just standing there, looking all mystified and lovestruck. Poor thing." And it didn't even occur to him that the Fire Master didn't even get a way of contacting him. How would the ninja even find him again?

He would. They would run into each other again. Ashley just knew it. He could feel it in... in his _soul._ It wasn't just because he hopes to see someone so attractive again. There was just... that feeling when you see someone, and you get the feeling that you're destined to get close to that person. Fate. And fate ran in the family.


	6. Riot

The checkpoint is chaos. Protestors push, swing, even kick at a line of police and Serpentine guards. "Don't let them through!" A police captain yells. "Back up is on it's way!"

"We have weapons!" A Serpentine hisses. "We could fight back better than this!"

"Just hold them back!"

Zane drops down in the middle of the protestor crowd and does spinjintsu. A good chunk of protestors are knocked back to the ground. "I think you guys need to _cool down._" The chunk of protestors on the ground try to get back up again, but find ice has spread over their legs. The unstuck protestors almost immediately jump at Zane, swinging signs and whatever they have at him.

Lloyd swings in to help knock more away. "You guys aren't a fan of peaceful protest, are you?" He ducks away before a sign can hit him in the face.

"DIE, FAGS!"

"LANGUAGE!" The Green Ninja knocks out the foul mouth's feet. He does spinjitsu to knock away the protestors gathering around him. "Where's Kai?"

"I'm here!" Kai runs in from the other side of the checkpoint. He punches a protestor who'd almost made it through the line. "I got a little lost." He starts trying to push his way through, but a Serpentine by him hisses.

"Keep the line!"

"They're ninja!" A police officer on his other side shouts. "There should be trucks here soon to take away the detained. We can handle this!"

"It's okay! I can still help right here!" Kai grabs a sign someone tried to swing at the officer. He knocks the crazy back and takes the sign away. In doing so, he reads exactly what the sign says. It was one of those "list of things that are wrong and sinful" kinds of signs. Kai just completely _hates_ signs like that. He uses it to help fight off protestors with all the guards and officers.

Zane throws attackers off of him. He's the only of them there who can safely restrain people with his power. He freezes up as much people as he can, but he can't take out all of them. Lloyd yanks away make-shift weapons and throws them as far out of reach as he can. There were a lot of them. This had to have been planned.

Suddenly, one of the protestors pointed up at the ceiling of the entrance and screamed. Almost like a banshee screech. "It's here! It's come already!" All but a few of the protestors stopped what they were doing to look up. "It's here! Here to march against the enemy! The Dark One has come to defeat the non-believers!"

"Dark One?" Lloyd looked up and scanned for any sign of a person. His father was the only one he could think of as dark. But he couldn't see anything. Just darkness and dim lights. The darkness wasn't even anywhere someone would have something to stand on.

"It's just crazy talk!" Kai yells from the line. "With signs like this, I'm surprised there hasn't been any sooner."

"Signs?" Lloyd, in all of the sign throwing, hardly even glanced at what they said. There were too many protestors coming at him, he didn't have the chance to. But now they all seemed distracted, and he could hear sirens coming their way. Now, he could actually get a look at what they said.

Lloyd looked down at signs that were tossed on the ground. The first one he noticed just said "keep our families safe." Then he saw another one. "Snakes, Fags, and Trannies, GET OUT." He felt sickened. Gods, do people actually believe like that? Lloyd had heard of it, he'd seen pictures and videos, but he'd never actually seen it for himself before. The Green Ninja had nearly convinced himself it didn't exist anymore. But it aparently still does.

"Lloyd." He jumps a bit as Zane puts a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

Officers and guards load protestors into police trucks. The police and guard captains stand by. "Thank you for coming in to help!"

"No problem. It's what we do."

The Serpentine captain looks a bit displeased. "I hope you have not had to deal with too much like this. You ninja are still rather young."

The police captain laughs a bit nervously. "They're not kids. And, well, they're ninja."

"But still young. Couldn't be older than my own sons." The serpentine pokes at a dropped protest sign with the end of his spear. "It pains me to imagine them with a world such as this."

Kai walks over and sets the sign on fire. "The world itsn't like that. Or it shouldn't be. Whatever. The crazy people are just really loud sometimes."

"Kai-"

"YOU HEATHENS!" A screeching protestor startles most of them. A messy man kicking and screaming. "He will come for ALL OF YOU! Even you Ninja who have _betrayed_ your kind! Not even your real kind, I bet!"

"Yeah, you sure you're a good judge of that!?"

Zane hooks onto Kai's arm to keep him from running at the person. Or maybe to calm him a bit. "Kai, calm down. None of them can do anything now."

"I know. I'm cool. If we're done here, there was someone I accidentally ran into before, and I wanna apologize for it better."

"I can go with you. Lloyd?"

"Hm?" Lloyd had been distracted. He can't shake this feeling about this "Dark One" the protestors were screaming about before. There was just... something. "Yeah?"

"Do you want to come with us?"

"Later. There's something I want to check out." Lloyd started jumping up walls and railings to investigate the ceiling. He feels like there's something more to this than just someone talking crazy. It may be dark so close to the ceiling, but he never really had trouble seeing in the dark. There are pipes going across several places close to the concrete ceiling, and one bigger one he couldn't see from the ground.

Someone maybe could have climbed across the smaller pipes, squeeze in between the bigger pipe and the ceiling, and they'd mostly be hidden from anyone below. In theory. Lloyd puts his weight on a pipe close to him. It squeaks, and almost snaps or breaks from the concrete. "These won't take a lot of weight," the ninja thinks out loud. "Someone would have to be pretty light to get across this... A kid maybe?"

Lloyd remembers he and Noa used to climb a lot when they were little, especially Noa. They would climb up higher and across more dangerous spots than Lloyd ever thought someone would be able to do. But why would a kid be climbing up here? And where did they climb off to after that lady noticed them?

He scans his eyes across the ceiling and walls, searching for somewhere else they could have climbed down. There was a truck parked across the way. Looks like someone could have climbed close enough to jump on it safely, but still far enough to make a noise. Make with all the commotion....

"Hey! Are you just about done up there?"

Lloyd looks down to see one of the regular checkpoint workers calling up to him. "Oh, sorry." he climbs down and lands next to the worker. "Just wanted to check something..."

~~~

"Concert?"

"Yeah. There were all these posters around. I thought it could be fun!"

"I don't know..." Nya considers this. They just got back to the Bounty after guarding against those protesters. "We still don't know if The Faith have anything else planned. They could attack again tonight."

Jay puts on his biggest puppy eyes. Nya bites her lip to keep herself from immediately giving in. He could just be so adorable without realizing it. "It'd be fun, though." She actually wanted to tell him yes. Tell him they could sneak out and make it a date night. But the well-being of citizens needs to come first.

"I'll go." Kai says. He's been sitting upside down in his seat, staring at his phone since they got back. "I need a mental health day. We still do those, right? Mental health days?"

Nya is maybe just a little worried about her brother. He's acting like he used to all those years ago, before he ever became a ninja. When he was always grumpy and a little sad. He was like this after the Overlord's second defeat, too. Honestly, it scares her.

"NinjaMentalHealthDay is trending on social media," Zane states calmly. "Partly due to Kai's vent-posting. Partly."

Well, that doesn't exactly help Nya's concerns. "Kai... Maybe you _should_ take a mental health day."

"You could take Skylar to the concert," Cole offers. "Or just hang out with her? Have a date night."

"Nah. We broke up like last week."

Everyone was silent. Jay's the one that breaks it. "You... broke up? When!"

"Last week, like I said." Kai doen't look up from his phone at all. Not even a second. "I thought I told you guys about it. Didn't I tell one of you?"

"No!"

At that moment, Lloyd walks into the room. "Hey guys! What's-"

"Lloyd!" Jay jumps up and grasps the other ninja's shoulders. "Kai and Skylar broke up!"

"Uh... Yeah? That was over a week ago?"

"YOU KNEW?"

"I mean... Kai told me..."

"Ha!" Kai swings his feet over, so he was now lying on his side. "I knew I told one of you!"

Nya is a little peeved that Kai didn't tell _her._ Heck, Skylar never even said anything to her! And they were just talking the other day! Granted, Kai never came up in their discussions. But still... "It wasn't a _bad_ break up, was it?"

"No! It was chill! Why are you guys so concerned with my break-up?" Finally, Kai puts his phone down, practically slamming it down. "Those freaking bastards are out there! And you saw what some of those signs said? I got hit in the face with one of them! It's all over Blooker, too!"

"Kai." Sensei Wu's voice rings out, calm as it ever was. Just about everyone in the room turns to face him in the doorway. "Put the phone away and take a break." Kai takes a deep breath, turns off his phone, then puts it in his pocket. Nya looks with a bit of wonder at how their sensei could so easily cool her brother down like that. "Now, are the rest of you alright?"

Lloyd's face turns more focused, they way it does when he's hard at work trying to track different crooks and thugs. "I searched for anything of that 'dark one' one of the protestors saw."

Sensei Wu puts a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "I asked how you all are, Lloyd."

Nya can see mild frustration on the youngest ninja's face. Out of all of them, he has the most trouble talking when something's bothering him. It's something they've been trying to work on with him. Lloyd sort of huffs out a sigh. "I just think there's something going on with this 'dark one' business, and we should at least _try_ looking into it, right?"

Dark One... Why is that phrase familiar? It had to be another name for Lord Garmadon, if Nya has to guess. Then it makes sense Lloyd wants to know what connection this hate group has to his father. They... no. No, that's not it. She doesn't know why that's not right, but she knows. There's something in the back of her mind, clawing it's way out, saying "The dark one is someone different. You know. You _knew._" 

The water ninja wonders if Lloyd has the same thing going on. That same nagging in the back of his mind. She can't blame him for wanting answers. She wants answers too. But still... "Just take a little break." Nya uses her best older sister voice, the same she's used since Lloyd was a bratty kid who didn't want to eat his broccoli. "The world won't fall apart because you took just a small break."

"Mmmmmm.... Fiiiine."

~~~

Feathry strums thoughtfully on her guitar. This song is almost completely made of bar chords. It's nearly impossible! But she really wants to learn it. It's important to her. She wants to master these chords, even if that song isn't one Feathered Serpent will be playing at the concert tonight. Feathry sings softly to herself as she gets to the Pre-chorus.

"You're not the... Only one... refusing... to back-" The notes on her guitar come out buzzy and sour. She winces at the sound. Her finger isn't pressing down hard enough across the strings. This is why she doesn't like bar chords. She sighs. She's still doing better than when she tried F major for the first time.

Her phone rings, playing a different punk song she set as Noa's ringtone. She picks it up, answering with a smile. "Hello, friend."

_"Hey! How are you doing? Did you finish helping Rocky and Jessie move in?"_

"Yeah." Feathry check the clock for the time. Oh... She finished helping her brother almost an hour ago. She didn't realize she's been working on that song for so long. "Ah, shoot! It's almost time for practice, isn't it?"

_"Oh dang. You're right!"_ There's the sound of shuffling. _"I need to get there to help the guy set up!"_

Right. The new effects guy. Some sort of family friend and amateur special effects artist. They've never had any special effects aside from a bubble machine. Feathry is full of energy to see what they have in store. "I'll be on my way there! Let me change and get my things together."

_"Yeah. Black with a pop of color, right?"_

"That's what we talked about. Oh! Pronouns! What are they today?"

Noa hums in thought. _"I'm feeling they right now. I've gotta go get ready."_

"Okay. See you there!" Feathry hangs up the phone. She hums as she gets the garments she laid out earlier for the concert. The humming turns to quiet singing. "Let's start a riot! A riot! Let's start a riot, oh!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ALMOST DIDN'T POST ANY FICS THIS MONTH HOLY DANG!!


End file.
